The USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier returns to Norfolk Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia

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The world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which has played a part in every major conflict since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, has officially ended her career at sea.

The USS Enterprise began shutting down her eight nuclear reactors almost as soon as she arrived at her home port at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.

Thousands of cheering family members and friends welcomed the ship home from her 25th and final deployment after nearly eight months at sea.

The ship will never move under her own power again and will eventually be scrapped in Washington state, making her final voyage a sentimental one for those who have sailed aboard “The Big E”.

The Enterprise has been a frequent traveller to the Middle East over her career.

Crowds line the pier as the USS Enterprise returns to Norfolk Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia

She was the first nuclear-powered carrier to transit through the Suez Canal in 1986 and the first carrier to respond following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The Navy will officially deactivate the Enterprise on December 1 but it will take several more years for her to be decommissioned as her reactors are taken out.

The aircraft carrier is the eighth US ship to bear the name Enterprise, with the first one being confiscated from the British by Benedict Arnold in 1775.

Current sailors and alumni like Mr Godfrey are lobbying to have a future carrier also named Enterprise. The ship’s crew created a time capsule to be passed along to each Navy secretary until a new ship carries the name.